Live Review: Flight Facilities, Christopher Port

It seems that ANZAC Day eve has become a popular night for live shows, particularly with Groovin The Moo coming to a town near you. The lure of seeing Flight Facilities in a smaller venue, nearly two years since their last big show in Sydney, was enough to sell out their comeback Metro Theatre gig in speedy fashion.

It took over 30 minutes to get into the venue due to compulsory ID scanning for all entrants. This meant that by the time most punters got in, Christopher Port was long finished, but anyone that caught his set would have been entertained with a bright, banging set from the young beatmaker. His collaborations with Sydney vocalist, Annie Bass (not present tonight), are worth checking out.

Electronic producers Hugo Gruzman and James Lyell are entering their tenth year of being known as Flight Facilities. You could describe them as the 'Australian Daft Punk' and their early tracks saw them experimenting with a vocoder and digitalised sound like they've visited Paris recently. It wasn't long before they slid into one of their newer tracks, Stranded, and we were introduced to their vocalists for the night. Graace, who you may know from Hayden James' NUMB, assumed the spot long held by Owl Eyes. Ric Rufio - a singer who's shared the stage with Nick Murphy, Adele and Daniel Johns - took on With You with an interesting vocal effect.

There was a sense that the duo have used this return as an experimentation and practice gig for their upcoming world tour. There were extended electronic breaks, twisting, distorted warbled sounds, and a light-show of a grand scale for the inner-city venue.

Following a rendition of Clair De Lune, in which Graace seemed to misplace the lyrics, Gruzman called, "Give it up for Graace, she only learnt it a week ago!" before announcing at the end of the track, "It's good to be back, but it's also very scary!" Foreign Language was a lot tighter though and the squeezed-in crowd attempted to dance with abandon, restricted mostly by the people next to them.

An encore of Two Bodies and Crave You rounded out the set and there was a sense of relief from Gruzman and Lyell that they had made it; "We aim to do our best for you every time and thank you for accepting us even when we don't." It wasn't the most impressive comeback for the group, but there's no doubt they've shaken off the cobwebs and are preparing for a run of Groovin The Moo shows and a big year ahead.